Various US and international postal services have developed sorting systems that optimize mailstream efficiency, e.g., maximize the number of mailpieces shipped with each mile traveled, while minimizing the labor content associated with mailpiece handling. These mailpiece sorters are fully automated and are operative to gather, scan/read, organize, convey and deposit individual mailpieces into one of a plurality of separate containers or bins. From the moment a postal service receives a full complement of mailpieces, each mailpiece may be sorted between three to six times, i.e., routed to or between various locations/stations, before being finally deposited/dropped into the correct chute or mailpiece tray.
These mailpiece sorting systems typically rely upon a host of state-of-the-art scanning, machine vision, and optical character recognition equipment to execute the sorting algorithms contained therein. The physical sortation is enabled by the ability of associated computer systems to interpret the scanned destination address and command the sorting equipment to direct each mailpiece to the appropriate destination during sorting operations. While many mailpiece sorters have been designed/developed for markets which employ a globally accepted language, e.g., English or Spanish, or have sophisticated postal systems such as the United States, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, mailpiece sorters are not yet available, or implementable, in countries having a language for which optical character recognition equipment has not been developed. Moreover, such territories may have a mailstream infrastructure which relies heavily upon human knowledge and/or intervention for the delivery of the mail. For example, some countries such as India or South Africa do not have an organized system of streets and/or street addresses for the entire territory. Consequently, mail may be delivered to some recipients based upon a mailperson's unique knowledge/memory of the physical whereabouts or location of a mail recipient. This lack of a complete network of machine readable/recognizable addresses for all destinations limits the application of automated sorting systems.
Despite the language barriers, poor infrastructure, and requirement for human intervention, automation of specific aspects of the mailstream can provide significant advantages. In FIG. 1 a conventional prior art mail delivery system/operation of the type described above is schematically depicted. That is, mail 100 is gathered and transported to a first post office 110 where the postage is verified/cancelled and the mail 100 is bundled for subsequent delivery. At a second or regional post office 120, a first manual sorting operation is performed to separate mailpieces into international and domestic mailpieces 130I, 130C. Those mailpieces 130I being delivered internationally, i.e., to any one of various international postal offices, 140A, 140B and 140C are sorted into bundles for delivery thereto. Mailpieces 130C remaining in-country are transported to a third or central office 150 where the mailpieces are again manually sorted into bundles 160A, 160B, 160C associated with various large geographic regions within the country e.g., internal states. Upon being sorted by state or geographic region, the mailpieces are once again transported to a plurality of local post offices 170A, 170B, 180A, 180B, 190A, 190B where the mailpieces are manually sorted into a finer grid of geographic regions such as townships or postal codes (if the country has designated such codes). The mailpieces RA, RB, RC, RD, RE, RF, RG, RH, may then be sorted to route sequence by knowledgeable mailpersons for delivery to the mail recipient.
In view of the foregoing example, it will be appreciated that the mail is transported as many as five (5) times on its journey from sender to recipient. Mailpiece delivery for a distribution system such as that described in FIG. 1 can typically take up to one (1) week. Hence, there may be little motivation or incentive for consumers to make use of such mailpiece delivery system. This is especially true when private mail distribution carriers can hand deliver mail in less time at no greater cost than a governmental body responsible for mail delivery. Finally, it will be apparent that the system is not only reliant upon human intervention, but is also dependant upon the physical transport and receipt of mailpieces by the individuals performing the manual sorting operation. That is, the knowledgeable humans must handle and view the face of each mailpiece to read the destination address.
A need, therefore, exists for a hybrid sortation system and/or method sorting/delivering mailpieces which reduces handling, streamlines the transport and speeds the delivery of mailpieces from sender to recipient.
The invention will be fully understood when reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.